go see SAVING BANKSY this weekend in the theater!

I saw it last night for the first time, and was stoked.
Good work, cool "Street Art" film,
and a story of commercialism and integrity.



find a theater here: SAVING BANKSY near you.



and it's not just cause I got a few quotes ;-)



read the New York Times review here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/19/movies/saving-banksy-review.html

Review: ‘Saving Banksy’ Affirms Graffiti’s Populist Values

SAVING BANKSY NYT Critics’ Pick

Colin Day’s fascinating documentary “Saving Banksy” rightly honors that renowned pseudonymous street artist whose work (often in public spaces, like a resort town) combines stenciled imagery with clever, cryptic phrases. But “Saving Banksy” has a larger goal: pointedly weighing graffiti’s populist ethos against art-world profiteering.

Graffiti art can be ephemeral: a spray-painted image — until somebody defaces it, or a property owner paints over it — is, at least briefly, free for everyone to behold. Banksy’s public art endures, partly because of extraordinary efforts to salvage it. When the artist visited San Francisco in 2010, his work popped up in various neighborhoods. One artist-collector, Brian Greif, had part of a wall, with Banksy’s rendering of a rat, meticulously carved out of a Victorian building on Haight Street. He seeks a museum that will share it with the public in perpetuity.

Mr. Greif’s effort contrasts with that of Stephan Keszler, an art dealer with a gallery in Southampton, N.Y., who excavates Banksy’s works from public sites and sells them for his own gain. Banksy (who has never revealed his identity) condemns such sales, as does Ben Eine, one of many street artists interviewed here. Mr. Eine says Mr. Keszler is regarded by such painters as “a shyster”; Mr. Keszler, who displayed a few Banksys at Art Miami in 2012, says he enhances Banksy’s reputation.

“Saving Banksy” owns its sympathies: “It’s the poor street kids and the multibillionaires,” Mr. Eine says. “We’re doing everything for nothing, and they’re walking home with Banksys for a million dollars.”

read the Hollywood Reporter review here:
www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/saving-banksy-964296


the director Colin M. Day made this clip for my show in San Francisco back in 2010

SAVING BANKSY the movie trailer

Saving Banksy - Official Trailer #2 (Documentary)
The documentary feature film "Saving Banksy" is the true story of one misguided art collector’s attempt to save a Banksy from destruction and the auction block. The documentary was directed by Colin Day with narration by Paul Polycarpou, and interviews with the top street and graffiti artists from across the globe, including Ben Eine, Risk, Revok, Niels Mueman, Blek Le Rat, Anthony Lister, Doze Green, Hera and Glen E Friedman. "Saving Banksy - It's not art unless you can sell it for lots of money".
SavingBanksy.com
Release Date: TBA

Happy Birthday Colin !

Welcome to Dismaland: A First Look at Banksy’s New Art Exhibition Housed Inside a Dystopian Theme Park

the official website of DismalLand

and this from from Colossal

WESTON-SUPER-MARE — Inside the walls of a derelict seaside swimming resort in Weston-super-Mare, UK, mysterious construction over the last month—including a dingy looking Disney-like castle and a gargantuan rainbow-colored pinwheel tangled in plastic—suggested something big was afoot. Suspicion and anticipation surrounding the unusual activity attributed to fabled artist and provocateur Banksy has reached a Willy Wonka-esque fervor. Well, if Banksy’s your bag, continue fervoring. If not, there’s more than a few reasons to continue reading.

The spectacle has since been revealed to be a pop-up art exhibition in the form of an apocalyptic theme park titled Dismaland (“The UK’s most disappointing new visitor attraction”) that will be open to the public for five weeks.

The event has all the hallmark details of a traditional Banksy event from a shroud of ultimate secrecy (the event area was plastered in notices designating it as filming location for a movie titled Gray Fox) to general themes of apocalypse, anti-consumerism, and anti-corporate messages. However there’s one major deviation: the emphasis of Dismalanded is largely on other artists’ work instead of Banksy himself.

So just what’s hidden inside the walls of this derelict seaside resort? A demented assortment of bizarre and macabre artworks from no less than 50 artists from around the world including Damien Hirst, Bill Barminski, Caitlin Cherry, Polly Morgan, Josh Keyes, Mike Ross, David Shrigley, Bäst, and Espo. In addition, Banksy is showing 10 artworks of his own.

Dismaland also has artworks by numerous artists featured here on Colossal over the last few years including pieces by Escif, Maskull Lasserre, Kate McDowell, Paco Pomet, Dietrich Wegner, Michael Beitz, Brock Davis, Ronit Baranga, and others. From the event’s official brochure:

Are you looking for an alternative to the soulless sugar-coated banality of the average family day out? Or just somewhere cheaper. Then this is the place for you—a chaotic new world where you can escape from mindless escapism. Instead of a burger stall, we have a museum. In place of a gift shop we have a library, well, we have a gift shop as well.

Bring the whole family to come and enjoy the latest addition to our chronic leisure surplus—a bemusement park. A theme park who’s big theme is: theme parks should have bigger themes…

This event contains adult themes, distressing imagery, extended use of strobe lighting, smoke effects and swearing. The following items are strictly prohibited: knives, spraycans, illegal drugs, and lawyers from the Walt Disney corporation.

In addition to art there are a few rides, completely impossible fair games, interactive artworks, random live performances and unexpected spectacles happening throughout the day. The entire exhibition is staffed by morose Dismaland employees who seem completely uninterested in being helpful or informative. Getting in requires an uncomfortably awkward NSA-esque screening, and even trying to find the exit required a near herculean effort.

I had the honor of helping curate a particularly fun part of Dismaland: a program of 24 short films shown on a massive outdoor cinema that will play on a loop day and night. Films include shorts by Santiago Grasso & Patricio Plaza, Kirsten Lepore, The Mercadantes, Ze Frank, Adrien M. & Claire B., Black Sheep Films, and Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared.

Dismaland is open to the public from August 22 through September 27th, 2015 and information about pre-booked and at-the-gate tickets is available here. There’s also a series of events including a show by Pussy Riot and Massive Attack on September 25th.

I think it goes without saying, but if you have the means, get to the UK.

-----------



I would love to go see this! - GEF

- This post originally was supposed to post last sunday, but there was a mix-up and it didn't go live till a few days later, so here's the rewind. Hope you enjoy it.

Welcome to Dismaland: A First Look at Banksy’s New Art Exhibition Housed Inside a Dystopian Theme Park

the official website of DismalLand

and this from from Colossal

WESTON-SUPER-MARE — Inside the walls of a derelict seaside swimming resort in Weston-super-Mare, UK, mysterious construction over the last month—including a dingy looking Disney-like castle and a gargantuan rainbow-colored pinwheel tangled in plastic—suggested something big was afoot. Suspicion and anticipation surrounding the unusual activity attributed to fabled artist and provocateur Banksy has reached a Willy Wonka-esque fervor. Well, if Banksy’s your bag, continue fervoring. If not, there’s more than a few reasons to continue reading.

The spectacle has since been revealed to be a pop-up art exhibition in the form of an apocalyptic theme park titled Dismaland (“The UK’s most disappointing new visitor attraction”) that will be open to the public for five weeks.

The event has all the hallmark details of a traditional Banksy event from a shroud of ultimate secrecy (the event area was plastered in notices designating it as filming location for a movie titled Gray Fox) to general themes of apocalypse, anti-consumerism, and anti-corporate messages. However there’s one major deviation: the emphasis of Dismalanded is largely on other artists’ work instead of Banksy himself.

So just what’s hidden inside the walls of this derelict seaside resort? A demented assortment of bizarre and macabre artworks from no less than 50 artists from around the world including Damien Hirst, Bill Barminski, Caitlin Cherry, Polly Morgan, Josh Keyes, Mike Ross, David Shrigley, Bäst, and Espo. In addition, Banksy is showing 10 artworks of his own.

Dismaland also has artworks by numerous artists featured here on Colossal over the last few years including pieces by Escif, Maskull Lasserre, Kate McDowell, Paco Pomet, Dietrich Wegner, Michael Beitz, Brock Davis, Ronit Baranga, and others. From the event’s official brochure:

Are you looking for an alternative to the soulless sugar-coated banality of the average family day out? Or just somewhere cheaper. Then this is the place for you—a chaotic new world where you can escape from mindless escapism. Instead of a burger stall, we have a museum. In place of a gift shop we have a library, well, we have a gift shop as well.

Bring the whole family to come and enjoy the latest addition to our chronic leisure surplus—a bemusement park. A theme park who’s big theme is: theme parks should have bigger themes…

This event contains adult themes, distressing imagery, extended use of strobe lighting, smoke effects and swearing. The following items are strictly prohibited: knives, spraycans, illegal drugs, and lawyers from the Walt Disney corporation.

In addition to art there are a few rides, completely impossible fair games, interactive artworks, random live performances and unexpected spectacles happening throughout the day. The entire exhibition is staffed by morose Dismaland employees who seem completely uninterested in being helpful or informative. Getting in requires an uncomfortably awkward NSA-esque screening, and even trying to find the exit required a near herculean effort.

I had the honor of helping curate a particularly fun part of Dismaland: a program of 24 short films shown on a massive outdoor cinema that will play on a loop day and night. Films include shorts by Santiago Grasso & Patricio Plaza, Kirsten Lepore, The Mercadantes, Ze Frank, Adrien M. & Claire B., Black Sheep Films, and Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared.

Dismaland is open to the public from August 22 through September 27th, 2015 and information about pre-booked and at-the-gate tickets is available here. There’s also a series of events including a show by Pussy Riot and Massive Attack on September 25th.

I think it goes without saying, but if you have the means, get to the UK.

-----------



I would love to go see this! - GEF

After Banksy - Parkour in Gaza

Banksy tours Gaza: creates dark, thought-provoking stencil series and video

from Dangerous Minds:

Banksy’s back, and this time he’s traveled to Gaza to get the world’s attention. Never one to shy from controversy, the artist’s website was recently updated to show 4 new pieces that he spray-painted in bomb-ruined Gaza, along with a tourism-style video purportedly shot by the man himself. The 2-minute short, aimed at making a big statement about the grim situation there, is mockingly titled Make this the year YOU discover a new destination.

Here’s a look at the new stenciled art with descriptions, if given:



This one is called “Bomb Damage” and appears to be inspired by Rodin’s famous bronze sculpture, “The Thinker.”

Gaza is often described as ‘the world’s largest open air prison’ because no-one is allowed to enter or leave. But that seems a bit unfair to prisons - they don’t have their electricity and drinking water cut off randomly almost every day.

A local man came up and said ‘Please - what does this mean?’ I explained I wanted to highlight the destruction in Gaza by posting photos on my website – but on the internet people only look at pictures of kittens.

If we wash our hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless we side with the powerful—we don’t remain neutral.

To give you a feel for it, here’s a couple stills from Make this the year YOU discover a new destination:





You can watch the video in its entirety here:

via Juxtapoz

155. BANKSY: Taking the piss

from Zenpencils.com

please click on the image to view properly



(if this does not enlarge properly in your browser, please go to the original post http://zenpencils.com/comic/155-banksy-taking-the-piss-explicit/)

Banksy is an anoynomous English street artist and activist who has become a cult hero for his anti-establishment and rebellious artwork.

Unlike someone I know, who stays in his house all day drawing comics and watching Simpsons reruns, Banksy is a REAL artist who challenges the status quo, forces people to think and puts himself in danger, all while remaining a complete mystery to the world. I mean think about it, he’s one of the most famous artists on the planet, his work has been popping up in major cities for the past 10 years and sell for millions of dollars and no one knows who the hell this guy is! I take my hat off to the dude.

If you haven’t seen it, I recommend the documentary Banksy directed, Exit Through the Gift Shop. What was meant to be a film about Banksy instead turned into a movie about the man who was obsessed in trying to meet him. Although many have claimed that it’s a ‘mockumentary’ and the plot a set-up, it’s still a brilliant film. It not only documents the street art movement, it also deals with the meaning of art, and whether or not an artist actually needs any talent or can just survive on hype alone. Two thumbs up!

This quote was taken from Banksy’s 2004 book Cut It Out. Some of the passage was inspired/appropriated from an essay by artist Sean Tejaratchi. I rearranged the last couple of sentences for this comic.

Banksy's "Artist in Residence" Video

To accept his Webby for Person of the Year, Banksy made this video about his Residency in New York City.

bonus:

BANKY's SIMPSONS Intro still incredible!

BANKSY continues... "Better Out Than In"

This New York Residency may go down as one of the greatest artistic endeavors of our time. Banksy is killing it on the daily here in NYC. Go to his web page for for more details, audio accompaniment to some of the pieces, the continuing daily updates, videos and exposures.